Aegon III Targaryen
For other characters who share the same name, see "Aegon Targaryen (disambiguation)". King Aegon III Targaryen was the seventh King of the Targaryen dynasty. He was formally styled as Aegon of the House Targaryen, the Third of His Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm. Biography Background Aegon III was a King of the Targaryen dynasty. He was the son of Rhaenyra Targaryen and her uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen. He was brother to Viserys. Aegon ascended to the Iron Throne following the end of the Dance of the Dragons, after his uncle, King Aegon II, was poisoned by his own courtiers. He was married off to his cousin, Princess Jaehaera Targaryen, to unite the two factions of the war - blacks and greens."The Dance of Dragons" Eventually, Aegon fathered five children: Daeron, Baelor, Daena, Rhaena and Elaena. After his death, Aegon was succeeded by his elder son Daeron. Season 3 While touring the Great Sept of Baelor in King's Landing, King Joffrey Baratheon explains to Margaery Tyrell that Rhaenyra Targaryen was eaten by her brother's dragon while her son - Aegon III, whom he doesn't mention by name - was forced to watch."And Now His Watch Is Ended" Family tree In the books In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Aegon III watched as his mother was devoured by the dragon of Aegon II, his uncle, during the civil war known as the Dance of Dragons. Due to the trauma of witnessing his mother's death, Aegon III developed a fierce hatred and terror of the creatures. Aegon III ascended to the Iron Throne after Aegon II died without any male heirs. He married Aegon II's daughter (and only surviving child) Jaehaera to seal the peace between the two rival branches of House Targaryen. However, she later died without issue, ending Aegon II's line entirely. Aegon III then remarried to Daenaera of House Velaryon, who was the mother of all of his subsequent children. Aegon III ascended to the Iron Throne when he was only eleven years old, making him the youngest king in history - until Tommen Baratheon ascended the throne at the age of eight (the TV series aged-up several child characters, so TV-Tommen is actually slightly older than eleven or ten, though even so TV-Tommen came to the throne very young). The early years of his long reign, until he reached the age of majority at sixteen, were a tense period known as the Regency. A regency council was organized with members who fought on both sides in the civil war, a measure taken to ensure peace, given that neither side was truly victorious. The green-supporting Ser Tyland Lannister (who served his grandfather Viserys I as Master of Ships, and later as the Green Master of Coin under Aegon II) became Hand of the King while the duties of the Protector of the Realm were granted to Leowyn Corbray, a member of the black faction. Both answered to the council of the regents. However, the able Ser Tyland rapidely concentrated most of the authority into his own hands, dominating Leowyn Corbray who seemed content to stand back and allow the Hand to lead. Similarly, the regents did little to ascertain their dominance over Ser Tyland who was free to govern as h wanted. Nevertheless, Tyland Lannister served for two years without accrimony as he favoured neither the surviving blacks or the greens, and worked to provide assistance to the reconstruction of the realm following the Dance and the resumption of trade to the cities to restore prosperity. However, he died along with many others, including Leowyn Corbray, due to a winter chill. Lady Jeyne Arryn, ruler of the Vale and one of the core Black leaders, also served on the regency council as well as Lord Corlys Velaryon who died a year later of old age. During the time of the regents, Aegon had little to do with the ruling of the Seven Kingdoms and the regents begun to vie among themselves for more power, struggles that intensified with the deaths of the Sea Snake and Ser Tyland. Unlike his predecessor, Lord Unwin Peake, who served as Hand of the King after Tyland Lannister, made no effort to accomodate his enemies and was particularly hated for his incessant efforts to marry his daughter to the young king after Queen Jaehaera's suicide (which some believed was murder orchestrated by Lord Peake) but his efforts were rendered futile when Aegon married Daenaera. Lord Peake later resigned the Handship to force the other regents to grant him more power but they surprised him by accepting his resignation, leading to his departure from King's Landing. The only joy for King Aegon during this time came when his younger brother, Viserys, returned from captivity from Lys with a wife at his side. Viserys had been captured during the Dance of the Dragons by the Lysene and Aegon had always felt guilty for not saving his brother. Viserys would become Aegon's closest friend and the only person he ever truly and fully trusted. When Aegon III reached maturity, he removed the regents from power with the help of his brother and began to rule in his own right. Viserys would later be made his Hand for the rest of his reign. Aegon III ruled the Seven Kingdoms long and well, repairing the extensive damage wrought by the civil war. Aegon III is nonetheless often blamed for the death of the last dragon, for which he became known as "Aegon the Dragonbane", despite his later efforts to obtain dragon eggs. At some point he had nine mages cross the sea to attempt to hatch his remaining cache of eggs. So few dragons had survived the civil war that they could not maintain a stable breeding population. Only four dragons had survived the Dance: Silverwing, the Cannibal, Sheepstealer (who was missing and presumed dead), and one other (who only hatched late in the war). The dragons were inbred to begin with, descending only from the original three brought to Westeros by Aegon I and his sisters. The final two dragons were hatched and then died during Aegon III's long reign: they were stunted, sickly creatures not much bigger than large dogs, and they did not live long. Some speculate that the Maesters poisoned the last dragons, because as men of science and learning they feared and hated the magical powers associated with the creatures. It is unknown if this was true, but the maesters certainly had no great love for the dragons and welcomed their demise when it came. Aegon had two sons: Daeron, called the Young Dragon, and Baelor, called Baelor the Blessed. He also had three daughters, later known as the "Three Maidens in the Tower": Daena the Defiant, Rhaena and Elaena. Upon his death in 157AL, Aegon III was succeeded by his young son Daeron. Aegon was said to have always walked with a great grief, and the folly of his sons nearly tore the realm apart. His reign is not fondly remembered in the Seven Kingdoms and he is known as the 'Broken King' and 'Aegon the Unlucky'. Both of Aegon III's sons ruled as king but both died without issue. Afterwards, due to the new succession laws Aegon III had enacted, his three daughters were skipped over, and his younger brother Viserys II was crowned king. Therefore, later Targaryens such as Daenerys do not descend from him. However, his daughter Daena had a love affair with Viserys II's son King Aegon IV, which produced Aegon IV's bastard son Daemon Blackfyre. Aegon IV legitimized him on his deathbed, after which Daemon founded House Blackfyre. Thus the later Targaryens descend from younger brother Viserys II, while the Blackfyres illegitimately descend from older brother Aegon III (as well as, also illegitimately, from Viserys II's son Aegon IV). However, Aegon III's line through the Blackfyres was eventually extinguished with the death of Maelys Blackfyre by Ser Barristan Selmy. See also * (MAJOR spoilers from the books) References de:Aegon III. Targaryen es:Aegon III Targaryen it:Aegon III Targaryen pl:Aegon III Targaryen ru:Эйгон III Таргариен zh:伊耿·坦格利安三世 Category:Kings Category:Blacks Category:Valyrians Category:Crownlanders Category:Members of House Targaryen Category:Deceased individuals Category:Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men Category:Dragonrider